
CORINNE INGRAHAM 


pz rr^ 

rU" 

El 


rL ELEPHANT 

AND THE 

WISHING FAIRY 










COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 














































the elephant and the WISHING-FAIRY 






































































































































































































































f 




























/ 











•- 



























































. 

* -* V. - 












* 
























; - 5 — 







































/ , • 































) 


“Stella was coming nearer and nearer to them on her Butterfly” 













THE ELEPHANT 

AND THE 

WISHING-FAIRY 

AND OTHER STORIES 

BY 

CORINNE INGRAHAM 

[“CORINNS”] 


WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY 

Dugald Stewart Walker 



NEW YORK 

BRENTANO’S 


PUBLISHERS 
























/(sCrXA 


J 


< 


GO 

MY CHILDREN 

CORINNE AND PHOENIX 
TO WHOM THESE LITTLE 
STORIES WERE FIRST TOLD 



























- 








FOREWORD 


vELL a child stories of legends and of fairies, so that 
he can hear the music of the little creatures of the 
woods, and can sense the throbbing of the flowers’ 
hearts; and you will have given him some¬ 
thing that will tint his whole life with 
beauty—a beauty which sordid details of 
the world can not smother. 

The young mind should early be im¬ 
pregnated with the poetry of nature; for 
without doubt the impressions of baby¬ 
hood remain the most poignant of life. 

It is my conviction that only by constant repetition in the 
simple and direct wording familiar to a child can big under¬ 
lying truths be accentuated in his forming mind. 

With this in view I have tried in the following sketches to 
establish a certain animal fellowship, including a moral sig¬ 
nificance which the little one will unconsciously accept. 

I should like to see in every nursery a song-bird, 
a bowl of fish and a pot of growing flowers,—and 
without, the wide, wild fields and woods. 




Corrinne Ingraham. 


THE ELEPHANT AND THE WISHING-FAIRY 



V 


THE ELEPHANT 


HE Elephant had heard of the Wishing-Fairy. So 
he wanted to see her. He asked the Kangaroo to 
tell him how he could find the End-of-the-earth, 
and, as soon as he had been told, off he went. 

It did not take him very long to get there, because 
the Elephant is a big animal, and, when he wants to, 
he can run very fast. 

When he reached the 
place where Stella and ^ 
the Brownies live, he 
looked around and the 
first thing he saw was the Get-little-pool. He was very thirsty 
from having run such a long way. So, what do you think he 
did? 











THE ELEPHANT 


He began drinking and drinking and drinking, and all of 
a sudden he found he had drunk all the pool up. 

All the time he had been drinking out of the Get-little-pool 
he had been growing smaller and smaller, but he had not no¬ 
ticed it until all of a sudden he knew that he was only as big as a 
button, and he was awfully frightened. You can’t imagine 
how frightened he was, and he began crying and howling. 
He made such a noise crying and howling that Stella came 
out of her lily-house to see what was the trouble. All the 
Brownies ran up and Stella’s bees and her butterfly (the one 
she rides) hurried over too. 

The Brownies were very angry when they saw that the Ele¬ 
phant had drunk up all the water in the Get-little-pool, and 
they started to scold him terribly; but Stella made them stop, 
and she told them to bring some more water for the pool. 








THE WISHING-FAIRY’S ANIMAL FRIENDS 



They went and got their little buckets, and down they went to 
the river for water, and in a few minutes the pool looked just as 
it had before the Elephant had begun 
drinking out of it. 

Do you know what the Brownies’ 
buckets are? No! Each Brownie has 
a sea-shell. Do you know where they 
get the sea-shells from? Well, I will 
tell you. 

Stella is the Wishing-Fairy at the 
End-of-the-earth. At the end of the sea 
there lives another beautiful fairy, and 
once she sent Stella a present. She sent 
Stella some lovely big sea-shells, and 



THE ELEPHANT 


Stella told the Brownies to use them as buckets. They can 
fill the shells full of water and carry them anywhere. 

The Elephant, who was still thirsty, tried to drink the water 
that the Brownies had put into the pool; but Stella told him 
to wait, because in a few minutes she would want him to 
drink out of the Get-big-pool. 

The Elephant stopped crying a moment and looked at Stella. 

“If I drank out of the Get-little-pool and all of a sudden 
became little, will I all of a sudden become big after I shall 
have drunk out of the Get-big-pool?” 

“Of course,” answered Stella, “that is why you have to do it 
—so as to be as big as you were before you saw me, to be big 
enough to go back to your world again. Of course, you are 
quite right.” 

As soon as Stella said this, the Elephant stopped crying, 
began to wipe his eyes and was happy again. 

“I like this place,” he said to Stella, as he looked all around 
him, “it is very interesting. You never know what is going 
to happen next. I think it is a lovely place.” 

“I am glad you like it,” said Stella, smiling. “I do too. 
It is my home, and I love it very much, but . . . every one 





















THE WISHING-FAIRY’S ANIMAL FRIENDS 


loves one’s home . You haven’t told me yet, Mr. Elephant, 
why you came to see me. What can I do for you? Have 
you a wish?” 

“Yes, indeed, I have,” answered the Ele¬ 
phant. “I have a wish that I wish very 
much. May I tell it to you?” 

“That is just what I want you to do,” 
and Stella smiled so that he would not be 
afraid to tell her what his wish was. So, 
the Elephant stumbled over to her and 
whispered in her ear that he had always 
had a very hard time in making his mouth 
reach the ground, where he tried to find 
things to eat, because his tusks stuck out so 
far that they hit the ground first and kept 
his mouth away from it. 

“Well,” said Stella, “I can fix that very 
easily; just wait until I get my wand,” and 
she called to one of her Brownies to bring 
her wand. As soon as she had it, she told 
the Elephant to kneel down, which he 
found awfully hard to do. 

She waved her wand around his head 
once—twice—three times, and suddenly 
the Elephant felt his nose begin 
to grow and grow. 

He was so surprised as he 














THE ELEPHANT 


watched it grow larger and larger that he could not speak. 

“What is the matter with my nose?” he asked as soon as he 
could talk. “I don’t think I like it. What has happened 
to it?” 

“I think that you will like it very much,” said Stella, “when 
I tell you what you are to do with it. I made your nose grow 
long so that when you see anything on the ground you want 
to eat you can pick it up with your nose, because now it is 
much longer than your tusks, and they will not be in the way; 
then you bend your nose back and put your food in your mouth. 
You will find it will work easily.” 

And it did. 

All the way home the Elephant kept picking up things 
from the ground with his nose. He would carry the things 
up to his mouth, and he was so happy because it worked very 
nicely. 

So now, you know why the Elephant has such a long nose. 

But you must also know that the Elephant’s nose is called 
his trunk. 

Isn’t that a funny thing to call it? 




VI 


THE GIRAFFE 



HE Elephant had told the Giraffe about Stella be¬ 
cause he was so happy that Stella had given him his 
long nose. 

The Giraffe was awfully excited. 

He said he wanted to go and see Stella, because he 
also had a wish to tell her. 

“Well, that isn’t very surprising,” answered the 
Elephant, as he swung his long nose around and 
around from side to side, “because you see, every one 
in the world has a wish of some kind. What is your 
wish? I should love to know what it is.” 
don’t want to tell it to any one, not even to you, Elephant, 
I would rather wait and tell it to the Wishing-Fairy 















THE GIRAFFE 


and see what happens. You really don’t mind, do you?” 

“Of course, I don’t mind. I understand perfectly. I hap¬ 
pen to know that the thing one wishes for most, always seems 
to be the thing that one doesn’t like to talk to everybody about. 
One likes to keep it a secret—all to oneself.” 

“That is true,” answered the Giraffe, as he scratched his 
side with one of his hind feet, “that is true, but how in the 
world did you know it?” 

“Well,” began the Elephant, and he smiled and thought a 
while, “you see, I am very old, and the older one grows the 
more one learns. I guess that is how I know. When you are 
older you will find that I am right.” 

“Will you tell me how to find Stella?” asked the Giraffe. 

“Of course, I will,” the Elephant said. “It won’t be hard 
for you. It wasn’t hard for me either, because you and I 
can run so fast. It is very easy. You just look in the right 
direction and then you keep running over there,” and the 
Elephant pointed with his nose, “over there where the earth 
and the sky touch one another.” 





THE WISHING-FAIRY’S ANIMAL FRIENDS 


“Well, that seems easy enough,” said the Gi¬ 
raffe. “I think I will start now” 

“That is right,” the Elephant said. “There 
never is any use waiting to do a thing that we are 
going to do, if we can do it now . Good-by, and 
give my love to Stella and be sure that you do not 
lose your way.” 

“Good-by,” the Giraffe called back, for by this 
time he had started and was already quite far 

away. 

He was very glad when he found the End-of-the-earth, and 
he was also quite tired, so he stopped to lie down in the soft 
grass to rest his legs and while he was resting, what do you 
think he saw? 

He saw all the Brownies playing hide-and-go-seek, and he 
also saw Stella who was riding around on her butterfly. They 
were all having a lovely time, and he lay very quietly for a 
long while and watched them. 

















“I have a wish. Please give me a very long neck" 



















THE GIRAFFE 


The Brownies were hiding here and there under mushrooms 
and in Jack-in-the-pulpits and behind trees. Suddenly, one 
of the Brownies, who was looking for another one who was 
behind a big tree, saw the Giraffe. 

“Hello,” he called out, “what do you want?” 

“Hello,” answered the Giraffe, getting up on his feet, “I 
want to see Stella, but I thought I would wait 
until she stopped riding her butterfly, for she JilT 

seems to be having such a good time.” But (fCllS 

Stella had heard him. Her butterfly flew over jJf /1 

to where the Giraffe and the Brownie were talk- 
ing, and Stella called to him. 

“Did I hear you say that you wanted to see me?” 

“Yes, indeed, I should like to have a little talk with you— 
if you are sure that you are tired of riding your butterfly.” 

“Oh! yes,” answered Stella, “I have been riding a long 
while, and I was going to stop anyhow ” 

The butterfly had flown down to the ground and had spread 
out his wings, and Stella hopped off. 

“Have you a wish?” she asked the Giraffe. 

“Yes, indeed, I have,—and it is a big one. I wonder if you 
will make it come true.” As the Giraffe said this, he ran over 
to where Stella was standing. 

“Oh!” she cried, as she jumped out of his way. “You are 
much too big to come near me. Before you come any closer 



THE WISHING-FAIRY’S ANIMAL FRIENDS 


you must go and drink out of the Get-little-pool. After you 
have done that, you will find that you are as small as I am. 
Then, after we have talked together, there is a Get-big-pool 
for you to drink from and you will become big again—big 
enough to run through the woods and fields and rivers back 
to your home.” 

One of the Brownies said to Stella. 





THE GIRAFFE 


“Shall I take the Giraffe to the Get-little-pool?” 

“Yes, I wish you would, and I should also like you to get 
me my wand. I left it in the lily-house.” 

“I will be back before you can 
count one—two—three,” said the 
Brownie. “Come with me,” he 
called to the Giraffe, “I will take 
you to the Get-little pool.” 

After the Giraffe had drunk out M 
of the Get-little-pool he became^ 
quite small; small enough for him 
to ask the Brownie to hop on his 
back and ride over to where Stella was waiting 
for them. 

The Brownie had a nice ride on the Giraffe. 

He had Stella’s wand in one hand and was wav¬ 
ing it around and around as he rode up to where 
Stella was sitting on a blade of grass. She was 
laughing as she watched him coming, because 
the Brownie looked very funny up on the Gi¬ 
raffe’s back. He kept slipping and sliding, and 
once he almost fell off; but he reached Stella 
safely and handed her the wand. 

Stella patted the Giraffe’s head. 

“What is your wish?” she asked. “Come and 
whisper it in my ear. You see now you are al¬ 
most as small as I am.” 









THE WISHING-FAIRY’S ANIMAL FRIENDS 


“I wish something very much,” the Giraffe said. 

“I know,” laughed Stella, “and I will make it come true 
for you. Come and tell me all about it.” 

So the Giraffe told her how he always seemed to be hungry 
and that the leaves that grow away up on the tops of the trees 
were the ones that he wanted most to eat, but they were too 
high for him to reach. 

“That is always the way,” and Stella smiled. “Every one 
wants the things that are too far away—the things they cannot 
reach. Why do you want the leaves on the tops of the trees?” 

You see Giraffes eat leaves. Did you know that? 

“I like them,” answered the Giraffe, “because they are 
younger and more tender than the ones lower down. It would 
be all right, I think, if you would give me a very long neck.” 

Stella waved her wand three times around his head. The 
Giraffe’s neck began to grow! 

Oh! how it grew! 

So now you know why the Giraffe has such a long neck, so 
that he can pick off the leaves from the tops of the trees. 





VII 


MR. AND MRS. PELICAN 


AVE you ever seen a Pelican? 

The Pelican is a bird that lives near the water. 
She eats fish. That is the reason she likes to be 
near the water—so that she can always be near the 
fish. 

All day long she stands in the water and watches 
for little fish to swim by. She stands very quietly, 
so that the fish do not notice her; then, as they swim 
past her, she sticks her long beak quickly in the 
water and catches the fish. 

The Pelican had heard of the fairy at the End- 
of-the-earth, and she had once before been to see Stella. She 
had told Stella that when she stood in the water her stomach 






















THE WISHING-FAIRY’S ANIMAL FRIENDS 


would become wet and cold, 
and, of course, she did not like 
it. So Stella had made her two 
legs—a little longer, and after 
that she could stand all she 
wanted to in the water and her 
body would always be nice and 
dry, because her legs were then 
long enough to raise her body 
above the water. 

She used to stand for hours, 
and after catching a fish she 
would hurry to her babies and give them the fish to eat. Mrs. 
Pelican always found her babies hungry and crying for food. 
They kept her busy fishing all day long, and she thought she 
had never seen such a lot of hungry babies. 

It was not easy for her to carry the fish home, because 
fish, as you know, are very slippery and hard to hold, and 
just as Mrs. Pelican would think that she had a fish in her 
beak so that it could not get away, it would wriggle and 
wriggle and wriggle and flop—it would fall back in the 
water. 

Mrs. Pelican always became very angry when that hap¬ 
pened. She would try to catch it again; but by that time the 
fish was far away. As soon as the fish fell in the water, it swam 
just as fast as it could, so as to get away from Mrs. Pelican. 
It did not want to be caught and eaten by a lot of hungry baby 
Pelicans—Oh, no! 












MR. AND MRS. PELICAN 


One day Mrs. Pelican had lost five or six fish, and she was 
awfully angry and sad. She was standing with her feathers 
all bunched out, and her head hunched in. She was thinking 
about what had happened. She was also telling Mr. Pelican 
all her troubles. Mr. Pelican was standing with his feathers 
all bunched out and his head hunched in. He was thinking too. 

All of a sudden he cried out, “I know 

“What,” asked Mrs. Pelican, “you know what? Good¬ 
ness, you frightened me calling out that way,” and poor Mrs. 
Pelican, who had been standing on one leg with the other one 
tucked up under her feathers, almost fell down. 

“I’m sorry I frightened you, my dear,” said Mr. Pelican, 
“but I have thought of what to do. We will fly to the End-of- 
the-earth again and tell our troubles to Stella; she will help 
us.” 

“That’s a wonderful idea,” said Mrs. Pelican, “but the only 
trouble is, we cannot both go at the same time.” 

“Why?” Mr. Pelican asked her. 

“You seem to have for¬ 
gotten that we have a lot of 
hungry babies to feed, and 
one of us has to stay so as to 
look after them. I’ll tell 
you what we can do. You 
go first and I will stay with 
our babies, then, when you 




THE WISHING-FAIRY’S ANIMAL FRIENDS 



come back, I will go, and while I am away you can take care of 
them and catch fish for them, and keep them from being hun¬ 
gry,” she said. 

“That is just what we will do,” Mr. Pelican answered. 
“Well, shall I go first?” 

“Yes,” Mrs. Pelican said, “and when you come home I will 
start for the End-of-the-earth.” 

“Very well,” said Mr. Pelican, and off he started. 

He flew as fast as he could because he knew that Mrs. 
Pelican was waiting for him at home. 

Mrs. Pelican was so curious to know what Stella would do 
for him that she could hardly wait for him to be back. 

When he did come home again he had underneath his long 
beak a big pocket. 

“My dear,” he said when he showed it to her, “this pocket 
is the most wonderful thing. When I catch a fish it can’t 
wriggle out of my beak and fall flop in the water, because I 



MR. AND MRS. PELICAN 

carry it in my beak-pocket. This way I can bring all the 
fish I catch safely to our babies. Let us go and try it.” And 
off they started to a place where the water was full of little 
fishes. 

The first fish he caught had to stay in his beak- 
pocket. It couldn’t wriggle away. 

Mr. and Mrs. Pelican were so happy about it 
that Mrs. Pelican started then and there for the 
End-of-the-earth. 

When she saw Stella she told her how glad 
Mr. Pelican was about his beak-pocket, and that 
she would like one too. 

“Because,” she said, “this way we can take 
much better care of our babies and bring them 
more fish to eat. I always lost so many fishes 
when they would wriggle out of my beak. I 
hope, Stella,” she went on, “that you don’t mind 
my coming back to you. This is the second time 
I have been to see you. The first time you made 
my legs a little longer. I hope you do not think that I am 
always wanting things.” 

“Indeed,” answered Stella, “I am glad to give you a beak- 
pocket. If you were asking for things for yourself it would 
be different; but what you want is something that is going to 
help your babies. You will be able to give them more fish, 
and I want to see them have lots to eat and grow strong and 
fat.” 






THE WISHING-FAIRY’S ANIMAL FRIENDS 


in that they put the gold fish. There were five gold fish. 
They made the whole pool look more beautiful, and Stella 
was very happy to have them. She kissed Mr. and Mrs. 
Pelican on their heads before they left her, and thanked 
them for having remembered her and for having brought her 
the lovely fish. 

Now, you know why Pelicans have beak-pockets. To carry 
fish in. 








VIII 


THE SQUIRREL AND THE WISHING-FAIRY 


^HE Squirrel is a busy little fellow. He is very careful 
too. Do you know how he is careful and busy? 

All through the summer he hunts around and 
finds all the nuts that he can. Each time he finds one 
he scurries off to his home and puts it there. He 
also hides nuts in holes far from his home, but some¬ 
how he can always remember where they are. He 
does this because he knows that when the winter 
comes and snow covers the ground he wouldn’t be 
•able to find any nuts, and nuts are what squirrels like 
to eat—so by hiding them away in his home and 
other holes he can dig down under the snow and have a good 
dinner whenever he is hungry later on. 








THE WISHING-FAIRY’S ANIMAL FRIENDS 


Part of the winter he plays around in the snow and part 
of the time he curls up in his snug little home, which is a 
deep comfortable hole in a tree, and he has a long, long 
sleep. When he wakes up the sun is shining, and it is nice 
and warm and he is always very hungry. Then he is glad 
that he was so careful and hid the nuts away; for there they 
are and he has all he wants to eat. 

The Squirrel looks very much like his cousin the Rat; but 
his fur is a prettier color. The fur on his stomach is white; 
and the Rat’s is not. The fur on the Rat’s 
stomach is the same color as the fur on his back. IwV a 

It was a very cold day, and the squirrel was dar*'' 

hiding in a tree behind a big branch. He was 
shivering and trying to get out of the wind. 

He had heard the other animals talking about 
the Wishing-Fairy, and he thought he would like to go to her 
and ask her if she could do anything to keep his back warm. 
The only trouble was that he did not know where she lived. 

All of a sudden Cottontail dashed past the tree. 

“Hey, Cottontail!” he called. “Don’t be in such a hurry!” 

Cottontail came to a quick stop; he and the Squirrel were 
great friends. 

“Hello, Nibbles!” said Cottontail. “I didn’t see you. 
From whom are you hiding behind that branch?” 

“I’m not hiding from any one. I am trying to keep out of 
the wind because my back is cold. I want to ask you where I 
can find the Wishing-Fairy.” 


THE SQUIRREL AND THE WISHING-FAIRY 


Cottontail scratched his head with his hind paw. 

“I cannot tell you exactly ” he answered. “All I can say 
is to go to the End-of-the-earth. She 
lives there. You ought not to have any 
trouble because you can hop so fast— 
almost as fast as I can.” 

“Not at all,” said the Squirrel. “I 
can go much faster—why I could beat 
you any time.” 

“You could not,” laughed Cottontail. 

“You only think you can.” 

“Very well,” the Squirrel said. “I’ll 
show you. We will have a race.” 

“That would be fine,” answered Cot¬ 
tontail. “Where shall we race to? I’ll race you anywhere, 
you say.” 

The Squirrel thought a moment. He thought it would be 
a good idea to get Cottontail to show him where the Wishing- 
Fairy lived, so he said: “Very well. I’ll race you to the 
End-of-the-earth.” 

“When shall we start, Nibbles?” asked Cottontail. 

“Now,” answered the Squirrel, hurrying down from the 
branch. “Now, let us stand in a straight line with our right 
front paw on that long twig lying over there on the grass, and 
when I count three we will be off.” 

They stood near one another, and each put his paw on the 
twig. 



THE WISHING-FAIRY’S ANIMAL FRIENDS 


“One—two— three,” the Squirrel 
counted and of! they started. 

They raced and raced. Sometimes 
the Squirrel was ahead and sometimes 
Cottontail. They raced all that day 
and all through the night, and they 
were very tired. 

Suddenly Cottontail called out to the Squirrel. 

“Nibbles!” 

“Yes?” answered the Squirrel. He was behind Cottontail 
and he was all out of breath. He could hardly answer. 

“Here we are. This is the End-of-the-earth, and it’s the 
end of our race too.” 

“I’m glad it is,” said the Squirrel. “You know you won.” 




“Well, I am bigger than you are. You can’t help that; 
but you ran beautifully. I did not know you could go so 
fast.” Cottontail said this because he didn’t want the Squirrel 
to feel unhappy that he had lost the race. “I will wait for 
you while you see the Fairy.” 

“All right,” answered the Squirrel. “But please tell me 
her name?” 




THE SQUIRREL AND THE WISHING-FAIRY 

“Stella.” 

“Thanks,” said the Squirrel, and he started towards her 
lily-house. 

“Oh, Nibbles!” called Cottontail. 

“Yes; what is it?” 

“You must drink out of that pool first,” and he pointed with 
one of his long ears. 

“But I don’t want to,” said the Squirrel. “I am not thirsty 
and I hate water.” 

“But, Nibbles, you have to. It is the Get-little-pool,” ex¬ 
plained Cottontail, “and it makes you small enough to talk to 
Stella.” 

“Very well then,”—and the Squirrel stooped down and took 
a little sip of the water. All of a sudden he became smaller 
than one of the nuts that he had hidden in his home. 

He was a bit frightened at first, but just then a Brownie 
came up to him and the Brownie told him not to worry, and 
that he would take him to Stella now. 

When he saw Stella he told her how cold his back always 
was, and asked her to do something to make him warmer. 

Stella waved her little wand with the tiny star on the end 
of it three times above the Squirrel’s head. Suddenly he had 
a curious feeling, and he turned around to see what was hap¬ 
pening, and he was too astonished! What do you suppose 
Stella had done? 

She had changed his long, straight, ugly tail, that had 
looked like his rat cousin’s, into a lovely bushy one! 


THE WISHING-FAIRY’S ANIMAL FRIENDS 


“It’s very beautiful,” said the Squirrel, “but what is it 


for?” 


“Well, I will tell you,” Stella answered, and she was smiling. 
“When you are running your tail will naturally hang straight 
out behind; but when you wish to sit up you must keep your 
tail close up to your body between the wind and your back 
and in this way your back will never be cold again.” 

“That is perfectly wonderful, Stella,” said the Squirrel. 
“I can’t tell you how happy I am and I can’t thank you enough. 
Would you like me to bring you some nuts? I’ll go back to 
my home and get them and I can be here day after to-morrow. 
I should love to give you some nuts, for you have been very 
good to me.” 

“No, thank you, Squirrel dear,” Stella said. “It is nice 
of you to want to get me some nuts, but I never eat them. The 
only thing I eat is honey. My two bees bring me that every 
morning, and then I also like to drink water out of my blue¬ 
bell flower; but thank you just the same. Now go and drink 
out of the Get-big-pool and trot along home. I’m glad you 
like your bushy tail. Good-by.” 



“Good-by, 
Stella,” and the 
Squirrel was so 
happy that he 
kissed her hand. 
“Good-by.” 


When Cotton¬ 
tail saw the Squir- 


THE SQUIRREL AND THE WISHING-FAIRY 


rel’s beautiful bushy tail he walked around him several times 
to look at it. “It’s wonderful,” he said admiringly, “perfectly 
wonderful.” 

“It is indeed,” answered the Squirrel, “and, what’s more, my 
back is warm, so that I am very happy. I am glad, very glad, 
I came to see Stella. Well, let’s go home now.” 

Going home, Cottontail and the Squirrel did not race as 
they had done when on their way to the End-of-the-earth. 

Instead of racing, they ran slowly along side by side and 
talked the whole way home about all the strange things that 
had happened to them. 






XVI 

THE MONKEYS GO TO STELLA 

O you know which animal looks the most like a per¬ 
son? The Monkey. 

Once upon a time though, before they looked 
quite so much like us, a little Monkey was playing in 
the top of a cocoa-nut tree. He was breaking off 
cocoa-nuts and was throwing them down to a boy 
who was standing beneath the tree. The boy would 
throw a stone at the Monkey and then the Monkey, 
who wanted to throw something back at him (for 
monkeys love to play ball), would pick olf another 
cocoa-nut and throw it at the boy. Each time the 
Monkey did this the boy, who had a big basket, picked up the 
cocoa-nut and placed it in his basket to bring home to his 
mother. 









THE WISHING-FAIRY’S ANIMAL FRIENDS 


After the boy had left, the poor little monkey, who was feel¬ 
ing very lonesome and who wanted to play the game of cocoa- 
nut ball longer, climbed down and went to look for another 
monkey to play with. When at last he had found a monkey 
friend of his, they both climbed a tree, sat side by side on a 
big branch and had a 
long talk together. 

“I heard a funny 
thing to-day,” said the 
monkey friend after a 
while. 

“What was that?” 
the first monkey 
asked. 

“I heard Mrs. Kan¬ 
garoo telling about 
how she got her pocket. You know, I suppose, that she al¬ 
ways carries her baby in it now. She says it is a great com¬ 
fort.” 

“Yes, I know about her pocket. It must be a great comfort. 
I remember when I was a baby monkey I always had to hang 
on, as hard as I could, to the fur on my mother’s chest and 
sometimes I used to grow awfully tired trying not to fall off. 
Wouldn’t it be nice for baby monkeys if mother monkeys had 
a pocket like the kangaroos have? But, tell me, how did Mrs. 
Kangaroo first get her pocket? That I don’t know.” 

Then his little monkey friend told him what he had heard 




THE MONKEYS GO TO STELLA 


the Kangaroo talking about. It seems that she 
had been telling about the End-of-the-earth, 
about the Get-little-pool and about Stella, 
who could make any wish come true. She 
had told of how she has traveled there, and 
of the trouble she had always had before that 
trying not to lose her baby kangaroo, and that 
the reason that Stella had given her a fur 
pocket to keep her baby warm and comfort¬ 
able in was because her wish had been never to 
lose it again. Mrs. Kangaroo had also told about Stella’s 
lovely dress that was made out of flowers—of how she wore a 
tiny golden crown with a star on it and of how she rode a but¬ 
terfly. She told of the funny, little, old Brownies who took 
such good care of the Wishing-Fairy, of the bees that 
brought honey from the flowers for -her to eat. Then the 
Kangaroo had talked of all the different animals that had been 
to see Stella and how Stella always helped 
them and made them happy by having their 
wishes come true. All this time the monkey 
friend had sat and listened, for he was so in¬ 
terested that he wanted to hear all about every¬ 
thing. 

“I wish I could see her,” the Monkey who 
had been playing cocoa-nut ball in the tree 
said. 

“Why?” asked his friend. “Have you a 
wish?” 






THE WISHING-FAIRY’S ANIMAL FRIENDS 


“Yes,” answered the other. “To-day I was playing with a 
little boy, and, you know, I wish I looked more like a human 
being—I mean by that, more like people—more like that little 
boy. Wouldn’t you like to?” 

The other monkey did not speak for a moment. 

“Yes,” he said. “I hadn’t thought of it, but now that you 
talk of it I think I would. Yes,” he added; “it would be 
very nice.” 

“Let us give our call so that all our 
monkey families and friends will hear it 
and know that they are to come to us as 
quickly as they can.” 

“What do you want every monkey in the 
forest to come here for?” 

“When they all get here, we will tell 
them that we are going to see the Wishing- 
Fairy so as to ask her to make us more like 
people. They, perhaps, would like to go 
with us.” 

So he gave his call. 

Did you know that monkeys have a call? It is a funny 
sound, something between a hiss, a rattle and a whistle. 

He had no sooner given his call than hundreds and hun¬ 
dreds and hundreds of monkeys of all sizes and all ages came 
hurrying to them as fast as they could from out of the woods. 
They all came swinging along from branch to branch. 

When they were there and had heard about the Wishing- 




THE MONKEYS GO TO STELLA 

Fairy, every one of them decided to go to see Stella immedi¬ 
ately. 

I wish you could have seen Stella’s face when they arrived 
at the End-of-the-earth! The End-of-the-earth didn’t look the 
same with so many monkeys here, there and everywhere. 

The Brownies had to fill the Get-little-pool ten times before 
each monkey had had his sip from it. 

At last they all sat in a circle around Stella and told her that 
they wanted to look more like people. Stella couldn’t help 
smiling as she heard this, for they were all talking at once and 
you cannot imagine what a noise they made! Each one was 
waving his arms and trying to talk louder than the others, so 
that Stella had to ask them to be quiet and for just one of 
them to speak for the others. They all turned to the little 
monkey who had been playing cocoa-nut ball in the tree, as he 
was the one who had first had the idea. Then Stella stood in 
the middle of the circle and waved her wand three times 
around them and the first thing they knew—they did look more 
like people! Their faces became more like ours, their paws 
became more like hands and feet, and they began to walk on 
two feet instead of hopping along on all fours. 

So now you know how it happened. 

As they traveled home from the End-of-the-earth, all the 
trees were shaking and waving as the hundreds and hundreds 
and hundreds of monkeys sprang from branch to branch, as 
they were leaping at one another and chattering as hard as they 
could. 


THE WISHING-FAIRY’S ANIMAL FRIENDS 



They couldn’t help playing and teasing for they were so 
happy. Their wish had come true! 











































































LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



□DDES75Dfl^S 

































